The NEW Central West and BBC Midlands thread

Replacing Paul Hudson at Look North weather?

No, perhaps not!

i think today was just a slow newsday- i think central often do manage to get the right balance.

But have to agree on presenters - arati is poor and lets it down. idont even think jo malin is any good but she seems to be the bet option without llewela. It just goes to show how valuable suzanne virdee is for MT. I would like to see more male presenters at Central - they havent really found a good replacement for Jonathan Ray who used to standby for Bob. I don't really rate Mark Gough at all.

Any thoughts?

bob hall used to sub for bob aswell - he was pretty good. mark gough is more of a reporter, he doesnt look comfortable in the studio at all.

i'm presuming llew is just off temporarily ... mind you, bob hall seems to have "gone", and yet he has presented the sport for as long as bob warman has presented the news ... without so much as an on-screen send off. very nice.

I did wonder about Bob Hall. What a send off for a Central legend eh? Maybe he'll still pop back occasionally. Although he was in semi-retirement when Mark Bolton started.

Bring Wesley Smith to Brum - he was fantastic for those couple of days and would have thought he'd be the obvious replacement when Bob does retire. I suppose it's the trouble at Central West - there's no real good male presenters apart from Bob.

Arati is my favourite presenter in the central part of the region.

She is on my wavelength.

She's tons better than Kay, I can relate to Arati better.

I like the revised presenting schedules since the move to the full time real studio at Central, Arati is much better with the late bulletin, and Phillipa and Lisa are much better suited to the morning bulletins.

nice to see alan towers back on midlands today ... are we to presume he has been forgiven by the bosses at the bbc

hes on today saying how LIVID he is about esther rantzen suggesting THE skateboarding duck was nailed to the skateboard. alan, was of course, the person who broke that story to the world.

here's the story he was referring to

Copyright 2005 Associated Newspapers Ltd.
Mail on Sunday (London)

February 20, 2005

The duck that was nailed to a skateboard to fool television audiences ...

IT WAS one of the defining TV images of the Seventies a duck zooming along on a skateboard at speeds hitting 10mph.

It may have been a little silly and possibly even a little naff.

But, with their traditional British love of eccentricity, the viewing public took the bird to their hearts, with millions tuning in to watch his appearances on Nationwide, the BBC's early-evening current affairs show.

Many wondered how the duck performed its amazing feats and now the answer has finally been revealed: The poor creature was nailed to the skateboard by staff from the show.

The cruel truth has been let out of the bag by TV veteran Esther Rantzen, former presenter of the BBC's consumer affairs programme That's Life.

She admitted: 'In about 1991 it was revealed to me by someone close to the Nationwide team that it had been nailed to the skateboard.' Ms Rantzen said that, in the Seventies, the rivalry between Nationwide and That's Life had been intense, with both at the peak of their popularity. Production teams often spread malicious rumours, designed to undermine the opposition and win the ratings battle.

And she told how one unpleasant story centred on how her own show had persuaded a dog to carry a shopping basket, saying: 'There was a rumour about our Yorkshire Terrier that went shopping.

Apparently we superglued the basket into its mouth.

'I thought I should probably investigate but luckily it turned out not to be true. If the basket had been glued into the mouth one wouldn't have been able to get it back out again.' Nationwide had claimed that the duck was stuck to its board with Blu-Tack. But it seems more likely that it was a nail that kept the bird upright. It would certainly explain why, in all his many performances, he never once fell off or made a false move.

It was the antics of the duck and his co-stars the surfing dog and the beer-drinking snail that made Nationwide such a success.

Its format, which weaved the performing animals' slots in between serious interviews with senior politicians, regularly attracted audiences of more than 10million.

And the skateboarding duck spawned several 'copycats' in the years that followed none of which achieved such stardom or were nailed to their skateboards.

But while Nationwide launched the careers of Sue Lawley and John Stapleton, nothing has been heard of the original skateboarding duck since the programme went off the air in 1983.

Sadly, Ms Rantzen was able to help clear up that mystery too. She believes another persistent rumour could also be true.

She said: 'Apparently, one day when a film crew said goodbye and drove off, they ran the duck over in the driveway. It's impossible-to say for sure but the rumours were so widespread. Maybe you should ask Sue Lawley.'

this afternoons lunchtime midlands todat was a mess - title music started during the headlines, meanwhile sarah's mic remained closed until part way through the first link.

arati on central credited channel 4 news with the tipton taliban interview and actually said "you can see the full interview at 7pm on channel 4" - not often you hear that.

ITN/Channel 4 insisted it was done - it had to be credited as such by outlets that used it.

well bbc mids just put up a usual "pictures ITN" caption.

oh yes, i forgot to say - i listened to les on wednesday - hes back on form where as he'd talk about corrie on brmb, he was talking about recycling schemes ... not quite the same, but it was listenable - where as i'd have turned goldberg off immediately.

i was laughing out loud when he messed up the interview with giesla and andrew whatsit the sutton tory mp

les really needs a female side kick - ala tammy over on brmb. but lets hope he gets the morning gig permanently anyway.